Return Material Authorization (RMA)
Most
Common Problems
To help
customer's avoid a $75.00/hour RMA Evaluation Charge, Apollo offers the following
guide to the most common problems. These problems are often caused by mishandling
or improper testing at the customer's location. Please review these problems before requesting
an RMA.
This guide
has helped many customers solve recurring problems - saving everyone a great
deal of time and effort. However,
if an RMA request is caused by a manufacturing defect, Apollo and our suppliers
will take immediate corrective action to avoid this from happening again.
IMPORTANT:
"No Problem Found": This is the most common result from Apollo's
QA analysis of returned material. Please
be sure to thoroughly check the part(s) before asking for an RMA and pay special
attention to all connections to the display, controller, backlight and touch screen.
A. Complaint: VISUAL DEFECTS
A1. Marks on the Display Surface: After carefully removing the displays protective
film, if there is still a mark on the surface you can try to carefully clean
it with a soft tissue slightly dampened with water or isopropyl alcohol.
Extra care should be ta
A2. Marks
inside the Display: Generally these problems are caused by foreign material
behind the display. Since this
area is generally not accessible to a customer (warranty voided), it can be
a manufacturer's defect if the foreign material shifted from the display's
non-viewing area during transit. Because most displays are assembled in
clean rooms, it is unlikely any foreign materials present so this problem
is rare.
While every
manufacturer has their own foreign particle criteria and we need to abide
by those specifications, we can offer a simple visual criteria:
if you can "readily" see a defect from a minimum of 18" from
the display then is will be evaluated. [We understand "readily"
is subjective - use your best judgment on what your customer
will object to, not necessarily the trained, expert eyes of your QA staff
and Apollo's QA staff.]
If the mark
is larger than a dust or dirt particle and it looks like a larger area is
affected, sometimes this is caused when a customer solders connectors or wires
to the display and then cleans it with flux remover. It is very easy for the flux remover
to wick under the display - extreme caution should be taken if you use flux
remover. RMA requests should follow standard
procedures unless the flux damage is suspected. In that case, with your RMA request please
provide a picture of the subject display for review.
A3. Glass Cracked: All displays are
made of glass and can be damaged by mechanical shock. All displays are 100%
tested visually & electrically before shipping. All RMA requests for this reason are
rejected by all manufacturers unless we can show pictures of in-transit damage
due to poor packaging.
A4. Dim Display/No Backlight: This
complaint can often be traced to a bad connection to the backlight assembly,
defective inverter, excessive backlight cable length or capacitive coupling of
the cables. Please check this carefully.
RMA requests should
follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after
checking for the above technical issues.
If the
display has a CCFL (miniature fluorescent tube) and the tube is bro
B. Complaint: Non-Functioning, Partial
Functioning or Intermittent Display
The visual
manifestation of these problems include missing pixel rows, missing pixel
columns, sections of the display not working or the whole display not working. This
type of failure is readily seen at final inspection by our suppliers and/or at
Apollo. We can usually reliably
diagnose the cause of these failures.
However, to help avoid needless paperwork, please consider using the
following checks before asking for an RMA.
B1.
Mechanical Damage: Damaged
printed wiring boards (PWB), connectors or components can create electrical
failures.
Damaged PWB: Look for cuts, scratches and other physical damage to the
display, especially near the mounting holes and connectors.
Damaged
Connection Area: Look for bent or
missing pins. If you solder your
own connector, look for solder splashes/solder bridges between pins, cold
solder joints, damaged lands on the PWB from excessive heat during soldering.
Damaged
Flex Circuits & Wiring: Look for damage to the flex circuits (especially
touch screen flex cables) from sharp objects, excessive bending of the flex
cable or excessive insertion of the flex cable's conductor into it's receptacle
during customer assembly (most common on silver/carbon flex types).
All RMA requests for
this reason are rejected by all manufacturers unless we can show pictures of
in-transit damage due to poor packaging.
B2. No Display: After checking for
mechanical damage, please be sure to check the following.
Backlight
is Working: In many displays you cannot tell if the
display is working unless the backlight is functioning. Check your power source
or inverter for proper operation, check for proper orientation (ground &
positive) as well as the connector and cabling.
Contrast
Voltage: Another major reason for no display is not applying the correct
contrast voltage for passive displays (prefix DMC-, DMF-, F- and C- typically).
Blown Fuse: On active matrix
displays a fuse helps protect excessive applied voltages from damaging the
display. Check that this fuse is still
operational and if not, very carefully replace it. Check all your power supplies and be sure
not to apply power until all connections are correctly installed.
RMA requests should
follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after
checking for the above technical issues.
B3. ESD and Over Voltage Applied: Electro
Static Discharge (ESD) and voltage spikes on power or data inputs can easily
damage the display. Voltage spikes are usually intermittent but can coincide
with an "event" such as the turn on/off of heavy equipment.
RMA requests should
follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after
checking for the above technical issues.
B4. Unknown: Some failures modes are
not obvious to customers. We will
evaluate these products and advise the cause to the best of our ability. In some cases, we need to send the material
back to suppliers for more detailed analysis.
RMA requests should
follow standard online procedures if still considered a warranty issue after
checking for the above technical issues.